This morning I was having a discussion with a potential client and we were talking about the “Homeland Secure IT” name, the individual mentioned that they understood the play on words, however they were simply not sure how to take “IT”, because they thought of “IT” only in the terms of “Information Technology”…
I explained that the “IT” in our case is an all encompassing catch-all term that covers just about anything you plug into the wall. We sell, service, repair, support a wide range of technologies, not just a computer, server or network, but VoIP systems, CCTV and network security camera systems, firewall appliances, anti-virus software and software in general.
So basically, whatever IT is, we can help you with IT!
I am unsure of a way to indicate everything we work with, but suffice it to say, it is not limited to just a notebook computer fix, or a simple virus cleanup. While we DO those things, we also deploy Blackberry Enterprise Server so your mobile users can stay connected. We help integrate wireless devices like Androids, iPads and more into your Microsoft Exchange. We configure VPNs that allow a mobile workforce or a branch office to connect to your data as if they were physically in your office. We design and deploy Voice over IP phone systems. We offer biometric and card swipe time clocks.
Again, if it plugs into your network, or connects wirelessly, or you WANT it to, we can help. Give us a call at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com to discuss your unique needs! We serve the Greenville & Upstate SC area!
Microsoft BPOS
Are you tired of dealing with POP3 or IMAP mail from your ISP? Tired of SLOW email? Do you want to share calendars between coworkers? Do you want to see the same contacts, calendar entries and emails on your phone as you do in your Outlook on your desktop and also via a web interface? Do you want your mobile workforce to have access to the same resources you do, including public / shared calendars & contacts? Want support for your Mac, Apple iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry?
Then Microsoft Exchange is the way to go, however, there are costs associated with hosting your own Exchange server that are unattractive to many smaller businesses.
Fortunately there are Hosted / In-The-Cloud alternatives, such as Microsoft’s Own BPOS, the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite which features a Hosted Exchange server, SharePoint, Office Live Meeting and Office Communications Online. Using BPOS can eliminate the need to purchase, deploy, maintain, backup and eventually upgrade a Microsoft Windows Server with Microsoft Exchange Server. The services are hosted “in the cloud”, in a data center, where all maintenance and upgrades are maintained FOR you. No need to worry with backups either.
This solution isn’t right for everybody, but it could be the answer to your problems if you have a smaller office, a large mobile workforce, a small budget or possibly no central location to place a server at. Would you like more information? Please call us at 864-990-4748 ext 201 or email info@homelandsecureit.com to arrange for a free, no obligation consultation.
Free 30 Day BPOS Trial
Optionally, you can sign up for a FREE 30 day trial of BPOS - Business Productivity Online Standard Suite - This trial includes 20 user licenses for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting, and Office Communications Online.
Homeland Secure IT offers Hosted Microsoft Online Services including the full BPOS / Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting & Office Communications Online) as well as the Business Productivity Online Deskless Worker Suite (Exchange Online & SharePoint Online), and each service individually.
If you are in the Upstate / Greenville SC area, we can assist you with configuring your Outlook to work with the Hosted Exchange Online service at your location or ours.
We also offer full remote support and phone support to clients anywhere in the United States.
Tanya Thompson / @thompsontanya commented about a device on Twitter this morning that caught my eye… It is the Withings / @Withings Wi-Fi connected scale, which uses network connectivity to log and track your weight loss (or gain) among other things.
You can view your trends with a web interface, and access the data with your iPhone. I believe something like this really could encourage you to lose some weight. Recently there have been news stories which cite studies about weight loss and the results indicate that those who use internet weight tracking actually do lose more weight and manage to maintain that loss better than those who do not.
The thing that bothers me is that it will Tweet out your weight once a week to Twitter. All I could think was exactly what it would be tweeting when I stepped on it… Something like, “HELP ME! This fat guy is smushing me!” is probably what it would have to say about me! Still, it is an interesting gadget and I would love to have it. Who knows, maybe I will order one. Follow me on Twitter to see what this thing has to say!
Electronic Medical Records Could Pose a Threat to Your Privacy & Security
It is no surprise that Electronic Healthcare Records / Electronic Medical Records are all over the news currently. It is an issue that affects our privacy and anytime that is in question, we get people on both sides of the fence up in arms.
Built into the 2009 stimulus bill are requirements that healthcare records go digital by 2014. Yet it is not mandated exactly how that be done, nor how that is to be protected. If you Google around a little bit you will find websites and forums dedicated to this topic. Obviously more is being said about the policy itself than the mechanics of it. I won’t get into what I believe here, but I will cover some specifics about how medical facilities are handling this requirement.
Some doctors in small practices are already digital, or at least using a blend of paper records and electronic records. They may be storing them in various formats, from scanning the paper documents and storing images of them on a computer, to having full fledged professionally written and mainstream client management systems, but the majority I am aware of in family practices go for the cheapest way out in order to have their data on computers. The advantages of having digital copies are that they can back it up offsite in case of a catastrophe and, they can access it from another location besides their own office, in the event they need to do so.
Now for the downsides. These systems have the exact same vulnerabilities that your desktop PC has, because they are using nothing more than the standard desktop PC. IF they are at all concerned about HIPAA they may have some safeguards in place, but time and time again, I hear about computers with some of the following issues:
No backup system in place: Not a threat to YOUR data, but all that information could be lost.
No anti-virus, or outdated / non-functional anti-virus: Of course this is a huge issue and could pose the largest threat. Even though anti-virus, like Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security is affordable, many doctors fail to realize the importance of this, or feel that using a FREE product is fine, when in fact it is against the terms of usage for those “free” products to be used in business.
Machines not patched: Another common-place problem is for computers to go without updates from Microsoft (or even Apple if they are using Mac OS-X) which make for extremely vulnerable systems – one part-time employee gets bored and browses to the wrong site and a bad guy now has access to everything inside that doctor’s office because the OS had big gaping holes in it, or applications such as Adobe Flash were unpatched.
Hardware firewall not in use or outdated: Many people believe the firewall on their PC (either built-in one or one provided by an anti-virus solution) is adequate and all they have in place is a Linksys, D-Link or other router. Firewalls keep bad guys from getting in, or at least slow them down. Quality devices from Cisco, WatchGuard, SonicWALL, Zyxel are affordable these days, however many opt to leave them out of the mix. A common excuse I hear is that the ISP provides their firewall, in the form of an Adtran or even a Cisco router, but nobody is aware of whether it has the latest software loaded on it. Any firewall in place is better than none, but one that is not up to date is vulnerable to someone who really wants in.
These are just a few of the more common issues that can make Electronic Medical Records vulnerable to disclosure. The list is a long one, and it is best to enlist the assistance of a computer service provider to evaluate your network. In fact, it would be a good idea to have more than one network support specialist look over your network if you are in the medical field. If you are in the Greenville or Upstate SC area, please call upon us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com if you would like more information. We are authorized dealers for Cisco, Trend Micro, SonicWall, Zyxel, WatchGuard, Servosity Online Backup and more.
If you worry about the security of your medical records, ask your healthcare provider to provide you with information that shows what they are doing to protect your privacy.
One lightning strike can ruin your whole day...
This last week has been a bad week for computers in Greenville & the Upstate. I don’t know what it is, but we have had computers come in with fried power supplies, toasted motherboards and hard drives, and a call from a potential client this morning with a dead PC and a destroyed hard drive.
Power protection experts estimate that over half of all dead power supplies could have been prevented if an UPS / Uninterruptable Power Supply had been used. That’s a lot of power supplies! And more importantly, that is a lot of money that consumers could potentially save.
While the power supply itself is not expensive, usually costing less than 100 dollars on most computers, the damage that a power supply can cause to the PC can be much greater. We have seen entire motherboards ripped apart and even fires on the extreme end of the spectrum, and lesser damage such as zapped memory, processors, and hard drives on the other end. At the very least, a power supply that fails will cost you in terms of time and inconvenience.
Should a hard drive be damaged by one of these power events, you could potentially lose everything on the drive, or need to send it out for recovery if you don’t have backups. What? You don’t have backups? Please try our FREE trial of Servosity Online Backup before it is too late….
What can you do to protect yourself? Install an UPS! We are proud to be Eaton Power Advantage partners and can offer the full line of Eaton products. They have an UPS for every application, from your small home system, home office, small, medium and large business, all the way up to enterprise and data center solutions! Don’t forget about your expensive Apple Mac systems, CCTV and VoIP systems, they need protection too!
Please check out the Eaton Product Showcase at http://www.homelandsecureit.com/Partners/Eaton-Power-Products.html
Or, call us for more information at 864-990-4748 – email info@homelandsecureit.com
iPhone Switchvox app lets you take your office phone with you!
How many times have you left your office while waiting for an important call to come in? What did you do? Set a special voice mail greeting? Forward all calls to your cell phone?
That’s what most people have done, until now. If you are lucky enough to have a VoIP phone system such as a Digium Switchvox solution and an iPhone or Blackberry, you can literally take your office phone with you now.
Your VoIP system is configured to allow mobile API, the firewall is configured to allow the proper ports through to your VoIP system and your phone gets the app loaded and configured. That’s it, you now have full access to your phone system. You can make and receive calls on your phone either from the cellular provider phone line, or via your VoIP system at your office.
You can call extensions, change your voice mail greetings, and any other function that you could from your desk phone. You would never miss an incoming call, and possibly more important to some, calls made from your cell phone while in the field, via the VoIP system, would never reveal your private cell phone number.
Another added benefit is that using the VoIP system will let you use your phone calling plan from your office, and bypass the phone plan on your cell phone entirely. This could save you hundreds per year!
Official apps are available for the iPhone and Blackberry, and some unofficial apps are available for Android phones.
If you would like more information about or would like to purchase a VoIP phone system, we are partners with Digium, Cisco and work with all Asterisk based systems in the Greenville & Upstate area. Please call us at 864.990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com with questions!
Apple iPad being used more and more for business
My initial reaction to the iPad was that it was cute little toy, but then immediately after its release it became apparent that people wanted to use them for business as well as pleasure. First was the use of Remote Desktop (Terminal Services), which I wrote about and has been finding extreme popularity, then of course was Microsoft Exchange integration to get corporate mail and with that came ways to get connectivity without buying the 3G version of the iPad, using a MiFi from Verizon, and ultimately, hacking the iPad itself and putting a MiFi inside the iPad.
Now that some time has passed since the release of the iPad, we see that many companies and even government organizations have adopted them for real business use. Case in point, the Ontario, CA City Council has begun using the tablet computers and that alone shows how a new technology is changing the way we do business.
I’m seeing more and more interest in these highly portable devices from business users and as more manufacturers develop and release their products, we may see a tablet computing revolution, where the day planners, notebooks, notepads, and even post-it notes go in the trash in favor of this digital ink. And the SaaS (Software as a Service) model will make a lot of providers wealthy.
Businesses who want to get in on this phenomenon should talk to their IT provider to see how easily this technology can be integrated into their networks. Your computer service provider can help you get your pad /tablet computer linked to your corporate Microsoft Exchange mail, setup clients that allow you to remote to your Microsoft Server and much more!
If we can be of any assistance in the Greenville / Upstate area, please call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com
Apple iPad owners have their first major security worry…. As the title says…
Read more here: http://gawker.com/5559346/apples-worst-security-breach-114000-ipad-owners-exposed
If you own an iPad, you may wish to visit that page.
Apple's Safari browser offers MS IE some stiff competition for security vulnerabilities!
The headline says it all – Apple just patched 48 vulnerabilities in their Safari internet browser, making it appear that the highly revered browser is now more of a threat to society than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer! Imagine that!?!?
Apple considers the updates to be “highly critical” and they are available for both v4.1 and v5.0, on both the Mac and the Windows operating system platforms..
What kind of vulnerabilities you ask? A number of them involve what is known as “remote code execution”, where a person browsing with a vulnerable version of the Safari browser could happen upon a malicious website, and code on that site could take ownership of the browsing computer by exploiting the security holes. The list is available HERE.
The solution is to get your browser updated ASAP, either to the latest version of the browser, which will get the latest updates, or, to update your current version. Should you require help with that, reply and I will try to give a step-by-step. Of course, there are alternate browsers you can use too, such as Mozilla Firefox, Google’s Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer to name a few.
Homeland Secure IT offers computer, server and network support, service and repair to Greenville and Upstate SC based businesses and individuals, so should you question your computer’s security, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 864-990-4748, respond here or email johnh@homelandsecureit.com
The FCC wants you to signup to shape the future of broadband in America
The FCC is looking for about 10,000 good men and women to help test their broadband connections in certain markets and from certain providers by installing a piece of equipment to meter the throughput at their home.
If you are interested in participating, you can go to https://www.testmyisp.com/ and fill out the application. You must meet certain requirements, such as having a high speed / broadband connection like cable or DSL from prividers such as Charter, AT&T, Cable One, Cablevision, CenturyLink, Cincinnati Bell, Clearwire, Comcast, Cox, Fairpoint, Frontier, Hughes, Insight, Mediacom, Qwest, RCN, Time Warner Cable (Roadrunner), Verizon, WildBlue/ViaSat, Windstream, or “other”, which will allow you to write in your broadband provider.
Apparently, they will place a simple device onto your LAN, and you must agree to the terms of usage, such as leaving it on 24/7, not trying to reverse engineer the device, etc.
Conspiracy theories are already out there that this device will be doing more than watching your throughput, such as watching your browsing habits. Possible, but unlikely. The company that has partnered with the FCC would probably not want to get that kind of bad press if this were found to be true.
I signed up our home and will let you know if we are selected…
